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Supervisor Tutorial

This tutorial covers the basic tasks of Supervisors as they pertain to the Continuing Dental Education (CDE) process.

Supervisors generally perform tasks during the Course Nomination Request and Approval phase of the workflow. We will concentrate on this phase of the CDE process workflow and explain how the role of Supervisor fits into this workflow.

The CDE Workflow

The CDE process consists of five phases. The phases are Catalog, Course Nomination Request and Approval, Pre-Class, Class, and Post-Class. An overview of the phases follows.

Phase 1: The Catalog Phase

Supervisors have no direct responsibilities during this phase. The CDE Administrator creates a catalog base each year and adds courses to it. Course Directors provide detailed course information, identify instructors, and approve courses.

Phase 2: The Course Registration Request and Approval Phase

The Course Registration Request and Approval phase takes place during open registration. This is typically the month of October. When personnel request registration in courses using the CDE web site, their Supervisors or Area Training Coordinators (ATCs) receive emails requesting approval. Supervisors or ATCs must approve course registration for their personnel before the lottery runs to ensure that all personnel have a fair chance of being registered.

Phase 3: Pre-Class Phase

Supervisors are responsible for ensuring that staff members confirm their attendance in each course for which they are registered during the Pre-Class phase. Supervisors must also track registration requests for staff members who have no Internet access.

Instructors or Course Directors are expected to contact students and their Supervisors at about 12 weeks before the course begins requesting this confirmation. Course Directors also upload course materials, and input comments into course descriptions during the Pre-Class phase.

Phase 4: Class Phase

Supervisors have no direct responsibilities during this phase. Instructors teach their courses during the Class phase.

Phase 5: Post-Class Phase

Course Directors are responsible for updating participant attendance records. Course Directors may ask Instructors to assist in this task. Supervisors have no direct responsibilities during this phase.

Registration Oversight

We will discuss only the Course Request and Approval phase and the Pre-Class phase in detail during this tutorial. During the Course Request and Approval phase Supervisors or ATCs are responsible for the process of Registration Oversight. This process involves:

Ensuring appropriate course requests by staff members

Tracking the status of staff member requests

Each of these sub-processes consists of three tasks (or approaches) that may be used as needed. The approach to complete this process may vary depending on the circumstances, the Supervisor's management style, and the number of personnel supervised.

Ensuring Appropriate Course Requests

Supervisors or ATCs are responsible for approving all requests made by staff members before the lottery runs. To minimize confusion about the courses a staff member should take, Supervisors and staff members should complete an Individual Development Plan (IDP) before October 1.

A Supervisor can ensure that appropriate courses are requested using either of three options:

Approve / Deny requests made by staff members via the CDE web site when prompted

Select courses from the catalog for staff members

Quick entry of course numbers for staff members

Approving / Denying Course Requests

Supervisors or ATCs must approve course registration for their personnel. In this way, budgets and clinic schedules are maintained. The approval process begins when the Supervisor or ATC receives an email from a staff member requesting registration in a course.

To perform these approvals, Supervisors and ATCs use the My Staff and Modify Status pages discussed next.

The My Staff Page

Introduction

The My Staff page is the starting point for all Supervisor or ATC activities. It is the central source of information concerning courses for staff members. Open the My Staff page with the “My Staff” tab in main navigation. To access the My Staff page, your login must identify you as a Supervisor or ATC.

The Right-Side Box

One very important aspect of the My Staff page is the box on the right side of the page. These tools allow you to easily complete many tasks:

Use the Reports list to produce “canned” reports. These reports are printable from your browser

To download forms that will aid in your offline duties use the Forms list

To view information on courses staff members requested during previous years use the View Previous Year tool

The Main Table

The table in the main area of the My Staff page alphabetically lists personnel under the Supervisor's or ATC's authority and the course or courses they are requesting. The alphabetical selection can be used for large staff to make the list more manageable. For smaller groups, like facilities, can use the “All” selection to view all personnel in a single table.

The columns in the main table indicate:

staff member's name

course number

course title

course dates

staff member's status in the course

priority that the staff member places on the course

The status will be “Pending” for any course that has recently been requested. The status will change to indicate modifications made by the staff member or the Supervisor or ATC. Clicking the status for a particular course will open the Modify Status page.

The Modify Status Page

Introduction

The Modify Status page allows Supervisors and the CDE Administrator to change personnel status as needed. This page also maintains a history of all changes made to a particular request.

The Right-Side Box

On the right side of the Modify Status page is a pull-down list of available status options. These options will change appropriately as needed. When changing the status for a “Pending” request, the choices available are:

Approved

Denied

A text area is provided below the status pull-down list to explain why a specific option was chosen. These comments will document decisions and ease confusion if a course is denied.

When this form is submitted, an email is sent to the staff member informing them of the status change. The CDE web site updates the status history, and returns to the My Staff page for further actions as required.

Selecting Courses for a Staff Member

Introduction

If personnel do not have direct access to the Internet and the Continuing Dental Education (CDE) web site, Supervisors or ATCs may be required to select courses for staff members. Staff members can only select courses during the registration period. However, Supervisors can choose courses for staff members at any time during the year. They are not restricted to registering staff only during the registration period.

The My Staff page of the CDE web site provides two methods of choosing courses for staff members. Under each staff member's name on the My Staff page are two links:

“Select Courses” to choose courses from the catalog for a staff member

“Quick Course Entry” to quickly enter several courses for a staff member

The Select Courses Link

The “Select Courses” link on the My Staff page provides a means for Supervisors or ATCs to select courses from the catalog on behalf of the staff member. When a Supervisor or ATC clicks the “Select Courses” link, the Catalog page opens.

The Catalog Page

Introduction

The Catalog page lists the courses published in the current CDE catalog. Each row of the table lists one course with Course Number, Title, Dates, Level, Location, and Status. Each of these columns can be sorted by clicking the column heading.

The Right-Side Box

The box on the right side of the Catalog page indicates that the Supervisor or ATC is selecting courses for the staff member. To stop selecting courses for this individual and return to the My Staff page click the “Stop selecting” link.

The Catalog page shows a list of courses selected for the staff member. This list shows courses selected either by the Supervisor or ATC, or by the staff member. This page also shows a list of the courses completed by the staff member.

The Main Table

Tabs filter the courses into specific categories:

All courses (the default)

Dental Assistant courses

Dental Hygienist courses

Dentist courses

Support Staff courses

General courses (for courses that have multiple audiences)

A keyword search allows Supervisors or ATCs to search for specific words in the Course Number, Title, Summary, or Objectives. The results are listed for all courses matching the keyword.

The “Status” column allows staff members and Supervisors or ATCs to know immediately the availability of any course

To view the details of a course and select it for inclusion in the “Selected Courses” list click the course number in the main table to go to the Course Detail page.

The Course Detail Page

Introduction

The Course Detail page contains all information for the course. This page presents information in a format similar to the Course Detail page in the printed catalog. Use this page to review the contents of a course before approving a registration request or selecting a course for a staff member.

Course Detail Navigation

The Course Detail page provides navigation. The “Previous” and “Next” buttons allow users to view all courses within a category without returning to the Catalog page. The Course Detail page also provides an indicator of which course the user is viewing and the total number of courses within the category.

The “Select Course” Button

At the top and bottom of the course details are buttons labeled “Select Course.” These buttons place the course in the Selected Courses list for the staff member.

Note: The “Select Course” button DOES NOT register the student in the course; it approves the staff member as a valid candidate for the lottery.

The Right-Side Box

The box on the right side of the Course Detail page is identical to the right-side box for the Catalog page. It provides the same information in the same order.

Under the Selected Course list is a button labeled “Request Registration.” This button begins the process of selecting (approving) specific courses from the Selected Course list.

After all of the courses have been selected and reviewed for acceptance, the Supervisor or ATC clicks the “Request Registration” button to open the Request Registration: Select page and finalize the selection process.

The Request Registration: Select Page

The final step in selecting courses from the catalog for a staff member is incorporated into the CDE system in case there are many courses in the Selected Courses list. In this step, Supervisors or ATCs select a maximum of three from the list as approved for registration. Choose the “Select” option under the “Priority” column to approve a course.

The Request Registration: Confirm Page

The Request Registration: Confirm page allows Supervisors or ATCs a final look at their approval selections. The navigation provided on this page permits Supervisors or ATCs to return to the selection page to make changes before submitting the selections to the Lottery for processing.

Quick Course Entry

Introduction

Remember that the CDE web site provides Supervisors or ATCs with two methods of selecting courses for staff members. Under each staff member's name on the My Staff page are two links: “Select Courses” (which we have just discussed) and “Quick Course Entry,” which we will discuss next.

The Quick Course Entry Page

The “Quick Course Entry” link on the My Staff page starts the Quick Course Entry Wizard. This wizard makes it easy to enter multiple course numbers for a single staff member. The Quick Course Entry Wizard is a two-part form.

The first part of the form consists of a text area for entering course numbers. Once all of the course numbers are entered by the Supervisor or ATC, clicking the “go” button opens the second part of the form.

The bottom (second) part of the Quick Course Entry form verifies that the courses entered are available and that they have not had other actions taken on them by the staff member or the Supervisor or ATC. Once this is confirmed, clicking the “Submit” button will finalize the Quick Course Entry Wizard.

Understanding the Lottery Process

Introduction

The lottery runs after the registration period. The registration period is typically the month of October. That means the lottery runs in November.

Personnel may ask how the lottery works, and whether it is fair. As a Supervisor or ATC, you should understand the process to explain it to your staff. The following explanation should help in this regard.

Step 1

The first step in the lottery process is for the CDE Administrator to initiate the lottery.

Step 2

Step two is a process that repeats for each course in the current catalog.

Randomly select people from the approved requests to fill the course and email the personnel and their supervisors or Area Training Coordinators (ATCs)

If there are more approved requests than room in the course, then randomly select from the remaining requests to create a waitlist and email the personnel and their supervisors or ATCs

Step 3

In step three, Supervisors or ATCs view the results of the Lottery on the My Staff page.

Note: Requests for registration approved after the lottery runs will be assigned Registered or Waitlisted status as appropriate for the course on a first come, first served basis.

After the Lottery

After the Lottery runs in November, there are still tasks for Supervisors or ATCs:

They may need to change a staff member's status in a course, such as confirming attendance upon receipt of the 12-week notification

They must track the progress of registration requests for staff members without Internet access

They may need to review statistics on CDE usage in their areas

Changing Staff Member Status

If a Supervisor or ATC must change the status of personnel, he / she can do this using the My Staff and Modify Status pages. The process is the same as that used to approve pending requests.

Some of the reasons for changing a staff member's status might include:

The staff member's schedule no longer allows attendance in the course

The staff member does not have access to the Internet, so you must make changes for her

The staff member cannot attend due to other circumstances beyond their control

Warning: Be very careful with changing status. After changing a status to “Not Attending,” changing the status back to “Attending” will place the staff member at the end of the Waitlisted Students list.

Tracking Course Request Status

The CDE web site provides for tracking an individual staff member's status using the My Staff page. Using the status column of the My Staff page, Supervisors or ATCs can track all of the requests from their personnel at any time.

The statuses that a Supervisor or ATC can expect to see include:

Pending – staff member requested approval

Approved – Supervisor approved course

Denied – Supervisor denied course

Registered – registered for course

Waitlisted – on the waiting list for course

Attending – staff member confirmed attendance

Not Attending – attendance not possible

Completed – course requirements are complete

Reviewing CDE Statistics

Another method of tracking registration requests is to check specific course registration lists or waitlists. This review can be accomplished using the Overview page. With the Overview page, a Supervisor or ATC can quickly view the CDE enrollments and other statistics for an entire Area, Service Unit, or Facility.

The Overview page

The Overview page provides these statistics. Supervisors access the Overview page using the “Overview” tab in main navigation.

The tabs across the top of the page separate the different levels of information. To narrow the scope of the information displayed on this page select an Area, Service Unit, or Facility from the pull-down list provided. Clicking the “go” button updates the display for that selection.

Note: The Area, Service Unit, and Facility tabs indicated may not all be available to you. Their availability depends on your supervisory level. For example, a Service Unit supervisor would only have the Service Unit and Facility tabs available to him / her.

Using the tabs in the order Area, Service Unit, Facility and selecting specific items from the pull-down lists provided on each tab, Supervisors can determine specific statistics to the facility level.

Each number in the table indicates the count of personnel registered, waitlisted, or confirmed attending the indicated course. The information shown is specific to the Area, Service Unit, or Facility chosen for display. Clicking a number in the table opens a list of the precise personnel included in the number.

Summary

In this tutorial, you learned the basic role of Supervisors or ATCs based on the Continuing Dental Education (CDE) process. You explored the role in terms of duties during the Course Registration Request and Approval phase and the Pre-Class phase of this process.

You learned how to read and use the My Staff, Catalog, Course Detail, Request Approval: Select, Request Approval: Confirm, Quick Course Entry, Modify Status, and Overview pages. You also investigated the Lottery process.